


one more for the road

by sconekitty



Category: Persona 3
Genre: Fluff, Kissing, M/M, The Pocky Game, happy belated pocky day folks, oblivous gays
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2018-11-12
Updated: 2018-11-12
Packaged: 2019-08-22 08:08:48
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,478
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/16594094
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/sconekitty/pseuds/sconekitty
Summary: Ryoji finally took a piece of pocky out of the box, staring at it in deliberation. “Wanna play?”Minato turned his head to look at the taller teen for the first time since he arrived, an obvious look of confusion on his face. “Why?”“Why not?”----------meant for pocky day but since i had to work you're getting it at 5 am the next day





	one more for the road

**Author's Note:**

> just an fyi i've only watched the movies/read part of the manga so if my interpretations of these characters seems odd to you, that's why.

There were plenty of nights where Minato wanted to avoid responsibilities in favor of listening to music and being away from everyone for a bit. Tonight was one of the few nights that he managed to sneak away from the dorms, sitting on top of the jungle gym at the nearby playground instead.

Which is why he was not amused in the slightest when he caught a glimpse of yellow out of the corner of his eye, one of his headphones being removed seconds later.

“Fancy seeing you out here this late,” Ryoji mused while putting the missing earpiece on himself, a habit he quickly fell into when he first started trying to befriend Minato.

“Could say the same about you,” Minato replied, fiddling with his MP3 player.

“I saw you sitting up here and figured I’d keep you company, that’s all.”

“Whatever.” As much as he wanted to be left alone, he didn’t care enough to tell Ryoji off considering the black-haired teen would likely just pester him about it the next time they ran into each other. Plus, Minato found he didn’t mind Ryoji’s company as much as he thought he would.

After a few moments of silence, Ryoji spoke again. “Why are you here this late, anyway?”

“Dunno.” A pause. “Didn’t feel like being in the dorms right now, I guess.”

“I see. Though I suppose I wouldn’t be able to see you if you were in the dorms. Aigis would likely shoo me away.”

Minato nodded in agreement. He wasn’t sure why Aigis had such a problem with Ryoji. Sure, the guy was obnoxious at times, especially while hanging out with Junpei, but Ryoji being no good? He had yet to see anything pointing to Ryoji genuinely being a bad guy.

After listening to a few more songs, Ryoji started digging through the bag that he brought with him, pulling out a box of pocky. “Want one?”

Minato wordlessly took a stick out of the box and started nibbling on it.

“Hm, I wonder…” Ryoji mumbled to himself.

“Hm?”

“Oh, it’s nothing,” Ryoji assured, a smile on his face.

“I don’t believe you, so just say it.”

“Honest as always, huh?” After a second of thought, he asked, “Have you ever played the pocky game?”

“Where did _that_ come from?”

“I’ve been wanting to try it, but I’ve just never had the opportunity.”

“Really?” Minato was a bit surprised by that revelation. He had seen Ryoji flirt with girls countless times in the few weeks since transferring to Gekkoukan, so he naturally assumed Ryoji would've done something like that already.

“What can I say? I’m not usually carrying pocky on me for the off chance that someone wants to play. More importantly, _you_ haven't answered my question yet."

"I haven't either. Still don’t know why you’re asking me of all people that.”

“Just curious, I suppose.” Ryoji finally took a piece of pocky out of the box, staring at it in deliberation. “Wanna play?”

Minato turned his head to look at the taller teen for the first time since he arrived, an obvious look of confusion on his face. “Why?”

“Why not?”

Minato thought about it for a moment, finishing the stick he held in his hand. Worst case scenario, he lost. Or maybe the worst case scenario would be them accidentally kissing. Though maybe that wouldn’t be so bad? Ryoji was already a ridiculously affectionate friend to begin with. Plus, Minato would be lying to himself if he said the thought of kissing Ryoji _hadn’t_ crossed his mind…

“You seem to be taking your sweet time deciding,” Ryoji teased. “Usually you’re quick on the draw when it comes to decisions.”

...Fuck it. “Fine, I’ll do it.”

“Wonderful!” A pause. “How do we start?”

“Oh my _God_ , Ryoji, just- here, put the end in your mouth.”

“Which one?”  
“Doesn’t matter.”

“Okay.” Ryoji turned to face the blue-haired teen, putting the chocolate-covered end in his mouth. Minato did the same with the other end a moment after. “So, do I start, or…?”

Minato rolled his eyes and took a decent sized bite. Ryoji, seemingly not wanting to back down from the challenge, took a similar sized bite out of his end. Already, a third of the stick was gone, leaving their faces much closer together.

“Doesn’t have to be the same size,” Minato mumbled around the candy. He took a much smaller bite for his second, Ryoji following suit with a nibble.

“Having fun yet?” Ryoji asked. He received a hum in response and watched as another bite was taken. He bit off a decent amount more, leaving a tiny amount in between the two. Suddenly aware of how little space there was between their lips, Minato backed off and Ryoji finished the last of the stick. “Looks like I win.”

“Looks like it.”

Ryoji pulled out another stick. “Rematch?”

Minato shrugged and took one end in his mouth. “You start this time.”

“Gladly.”

The second round progressed much slower than the first, both teens taking tiny bites of the candy. After a few agonizingly slow minutes of back-and-forth nibbles, Minato decided to take a much larger bite, leaving only a few centimeters between the two.

Without a moment of hesitation, Ryoji took another bite only to meet the other’s lips instead. As soon as they touched, they both pulled away in surprise.

“I, uh… hm.” Minato gave up trying to form a coherent sentence, looking down in embarrassment and absentmindedly touching his own lips instead.

Ryoji let out a small chuckle in response. “Looks like I miscalculated that last one. Do we need another round to settle who won this one?”

Minato’s eyes widened as he realized what the real question was. “You-”

“-had this planned from the start? Yes, yes I did. I hope I didn’t go too far with it,” he added, sheepishly rubbing the back of his head.

“I just… wasn’t expecting it, that’s all.”

“That’s fair. My offer still stands to redo that round, if you’d like.”

Minato seriously considered it for a moment. On one hand, he wanted to beat Ryoji at this game. On the other hand…

Before he could think about what he was doing, the shorter boy once again closed the distance between them, no longer under the guise of a friendly game. Ryoji froze briefly before moving his lips against Minato’s in response.

The two stayed like that for a few moments, inexperienced mouths somehow moving in sync, only breaking away for a second to breathe before rejoining.

Eventually, Ryoji pulled away, leaving a soft peck on Minato’s lips before doing so. “And here I was wondering if you were dating Aigis.”

“Seriously?”

“You two are really close. Not to mention the fact that she seems hell bent on keeping me away from you.”

“I literally called you attractive last week.”

“You can think people are attractive without _liking_ them!”

“I know, I just- I was trying to flirt with you!”

Ryoji laughed. “I couldn’t tell, honestly! I’m sorry!”

“You’re as oblivious as you are pretty, I swear.”

“Aw, you think I’m pretty!” That earned a shove from Minato. “But seriously, you’re the oblivious one here.” Minato furrowed his eyebrows. “Really? I’ve been flirting with you since the day I met you!”

“Are you-”

“Yes, I’m serious. How did you not _know?_ ”

“I’m pretty sure you’ve flirted with every girl in our class at this point.”

“Yeah, at first! But with you I’ve been trying to do it in a way that you might actually respond to. Something that’s less ‘obnoxious’, as you would put it. Plus, I figured you knew since you actually let me do things like take your headphones or put an arm around you.”

Now that he thought about it, Ryoji _did_ tend to act differently around him than he would Junpei or any of their other classmates.

Well, shit. Ryoji _was_ flirting with him this whole time, wasn’t he?

Minato put his head in his hands. “I’m dumb.”

Ryoji put an arm around him, planting a kiss to the side of his forehead. “Consider us even, since I’m just as dumb in that sense. Anyway, what time is it? I don’t have my phone on me.”

Minato pulled his phone out to check. “Aw, shit,” he mumbled, moving to climb down from the jungle gym as soon as he realized how late it was.

“That late, huh?” Ryoji pondered, climbing down as well. “Want me to walk you home?”

“‘s not that far. Plus, Aigis.”

“Right, right.” He held the box of pocky out to Minato. “One more for the road?”

“Sure.” Minato stood on his toes to give Ryoji a quick kiss before taking a stick of pocky. “Hey, uh…”

“Let’s do this again sometime soon, yeah?” Ryoji offered, smiling.

Minato gave a small smile back in return. “Yeah.”

**Author's Note:**

> ayy look included the work title as a line in the fic *finger guns*
> 
> anyway feel free to message me @ sconekitty on twitter/tumblr (especially abt ryomina i need more ryomina in my life)


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